'Paul'

'Paul' (R) (rental)

Writers: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost
Director: Greg Mottola
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jason Bateman, John Carroll Lynch, David Koechner, Jessie Plemmons, Jane Lynch, Jeffrey Tambor,
Bill Hader

"Paul" could have been very special instead of being very hit and miss as it turns out to be. There is some special talent involved here including two great comic actors and writers. There is also one of my favorite recent directors taking genre films and making them above and beyond what they should be. This talent has it's moments and there are a few laughs but not as many as I expected and sometimes the movie skids to a halt and is unfunny. Now I did smile a lot and I love some of the pop culture references.

"Paul" tells the story of best friends Graeme and Clive who come to America to go on a road trip to all the alien landing sites. They suddenly see an explosion on the road and run into an alien named Paul. This meeting between the friends and Paul should have been funnier, I didn't laugh at all. The movie picks up when the boys and Paul run away from FBI agents and run into a Christian woman. The funniest segments have nothing really to do with Paul. They belong to Kristen Wiig as the Christian woman who when she learns how to swear sets up the best running gag. There is great voice work by Seth Rogen as Paul and Jason Bateman is as always good as an FBI agent.

The writers and lead actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have written two of the best spoofs of the past decades in "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz". The director, Greg Mottola, took a standard genre movie like "Adventureland" and turned it into greatness and my pick as best movie of 2007. He also directed the best high school movie of the past decades in "Superbad" making a raunchy movie into a classic. These are all great talents who have done better but maybe I am being too critical. I did laugh a few times but I wanted to have more fun. There are smart pop culture references that will go way over younger viewer's heads. "Paul" has some laughs and great acting but it left me a little disappointed.